2011 - year of the Blackcap

We've now written our 2011 Annual Review and it can be found, along with all the data from 2011, on our Ringing Statistics page

2011 Summary

• An excellent, record-breaking year with 5727 birds ringed at Stanford Reservoir from a total 8672 birds processed.

• Most warbler species were ringed in record numbers, as were Tree Sparrow, Linnet, Reed Bunting and Greenfinch. An unprecedented warbler and finch autumn movement was observed. However, our success in ringing thrushes during the winter of 2010/11 was not repeated in 2011/12 as the birds were virtually absent due to the mild conditions.

• The breeding season was good with 161 nests recorded. No obvious impact was observed from the previous hard winter (with the possible exception of Barn Owls).

• Higher than average controls were recorded (19), but the recovery rate was poor (only 11 recoveries in total for the whole year and only 4 birds of the 5727 ringed in 2011 have been recovered to date) .

• Environmental work effort has been higher and more successful than ever before.

• Website and Blog features were expanded during 2011.

• Stanford Ringing Group has taken on more new trainees and helpers during 2011 than in previous years.

And finally, for Stanford Ringing Group, 2011 was definitely the year of the Blackcap, with 710 ringed at Stanford Reservoir. Never before have we ringed so many birds of one species in a single year.